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Computer Brand Wiki:Sockpuppet Policy
On the Computer Brand Wiki, users may have more than one account, as long as they are being used for good purposes. If you have multiple accounts, please make sure the Computer Brand Wiki community know about it through putting Template:Sockpuppet legit or Template:Bot if they are a bot. Illegitimate sockpuppet accounts are not tolerated and will be banned immediately upon discovery. Sock puppetry takes various forms: *Logging out to make problematic edits as an IP address *Creating new accounts to avoid detection *Using another person's account (piggybacking) *Reviving old unused accounts (sometimes referred to as sleepers) and presenting them as different users *Persuading friends or colleagues to create accounts for the purpose of supporting one side of a dispute (usually called meatpuppetry) Misuse of multiple accounts is a serious breach of community trust. It may lead to: *a block of all affected accounts *a ban of the user (the sockmaster or sockpuppeteer) behind the accounts (each of which is a sockpuppet or sock) *on-project exposure of all accounts and IP addresses used across Wikipedia and its sister projects *the (potential) public exposure of any "real-world" activities or personal information deemed relevant to preventing future sock puppetry or certain other abuses. An editor using multiple accounts for valid reasons should, on each account's user page, list all the other accounts with an explanation of their purpose. Optionally, the user and user talk pages of some of the accounts can be redirected to those of another. Editors who use unlinked alternative accounts, or who edit as an IP address editor separate from their account, should carefully avoid any crossover on articles or topics because even innocuous activities such as copy editing, wikifying, or linking might be considered sock puppetry in some cases and innocuous intentions will not usually serve as an excuse. There are legitimate reasons for multiple accounts: *If your account gets hacked, you may use backups until you consider your main account to be secure. *If you want to set up a bot, since it is strongly discouraged to run bot scripts on your main account. *If you want to create an account created with a username similar to your main account to prevent impersonation. *Registering an alternative account for use when accessing through a public computer, connecting to an unsecured network, or other scenarios when there's a risk of your account being compromised. *For testing purposes, such as checking if your CSS looks right. *Creating a new account if you are banned for having an inappropriate username, and that is the sole reason for the block. *Clean start under a new name due to past mistakes or to avoid harassment. *If you have a funny/silly username but don't want to embarrass yourself when editing about serious topics. *Please note that bureaucrat, administrator, content moderator, chat moderator, discussion moderator and rollback rights cannot be carried over to other accounts. There are illegitimate reasons for multiple accounts: *Creating an illusion of support. *Posing as a neutral or uninvolved commentator. *Using one account for good contributions and one account for bad contributions. If there is strong evidence that they are linked, both the good account and the bad account will be permanently banned. *Editing while logged out in order to mislead. *Contributing to the same page or discussion with multiple accounts. *Using a second account to edit in violation of an active ban or community sanction. *Misusing a clean start by switching accounts or concealing a clean start in a way that avoids scrutiny. *Deceptively seeking positions of community trust. *Using more than one administrator account. *Using multiple accounts to evade chat mutes and editing bans. *Using alternative accounts that are not fully and openly disclosed to split your editing history. *To support yourself in a dispute or requests for rights such as administrator and bureaucrat. *Pointless accounts that serve no purpose are not allowed. All accounts must have a point. Category:Computer Brand Wiki